Various types of educational devices for young children are known in the prior art, including some which are designed to teach the alphabet or numbers and to teach color recognition and the recognition of shapes. Generally, in the prior art, separate teaching devices are employed to accomplish these multiple objectives and many of the devices are mechanical or electromechanical in nature and tend to be somewhat complicated and costly. Many are not practical for the young child to utilize directly and require demonstration or operation by the teacher. Some have an element of danger for the small child in that they include solid elements, such as geometric blocks, which conceivably could be swallowed. Sharp edges are sometimes present on components. Frequently, the prior art teaching devices are difficult to clean and may not be immersed in water or placed in a washing machine.
With the above deficiencies in mind, the objective of the present invention is to provide a highly versatile, simplified and economical multi-purpose educational device for younger children which is entirely safe for them to use and which is essentially constructed of machine washable flexible material of a type which is tough and durable.
The device, after brief introductory instruction by a teacher, enables the young child to recognize colors, shapes, indicia and fabric textures, to sort provided elements thereof from groups, and to insert the sorted elements into pockets formed on the fabric body portion of the device which are aligned with recognition elements contained on the opposite sides of several recognition strips which are selectively attached to the body portion through mating fastener components on the strips and body portion.
Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art during the course of the following detailed description.